Bill to rename Southern Utah highway after Donald Trump advancing

State Route 9 winds through Zion National Park. SR-9 is part a route that would have become the “Donald J. Trump Utah National Parks Highway” if the bill sponsored by Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, hadn't have been dropped Wednesday, undated photo | Photo by robertcicchetti/iStock/Getty Images Plus, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — A bill to rename hundreds of miles of Southern Utah highways after President Donald Trump is one step closer to becoming a reality.

Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, introduced a bill that would rename the Utah National Parks highway, a stretch of roads that winds around all five of Southern Utah’s iconic national parks, to the “Donald J. Trump Utah National Parks Highway.”

In this file photo, Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, is shown on the House floor at the Utah State Capitol, in Salt Lake City, Feb. 6, 2018 | Associated Press photo by Rick Bowmer, St. George News

Noel’s bill passed the House natural resources, agriculture and environment committee Monday with a 9-2 vote. It now heads to the House for consideration.

The reason for the designation would be to thank Trump for dramatically reducing the size of Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bear’s Ears National monuments in December, Noel said.

“President Trump cares about the public lands,” Noel said. “President Trump’s family cares about the public lands and he cares about Utah and what we’re thinking.”

Despite Noel praising Trump as a hero for Utah, some Utahns say they don’t want roads named after Trump in Utah.

“I don’t think people are going to be willing to drive on a road with his name on it,” said Wendy Garvin, a representative with the Utah Progressive Caucus.

If the bill makes it to the Utah Senate, Sen. Jim Dabakis, D-Salt Lake City, said he would propose amendments that would rename the frontage road along the highway the “Stormy Daniels ramp way” — a reference to the porn star Trump reportedly had an affair with in 2006.

“I just want the Legislature to understand the level of disrespect that a lot of citizens are feeling by this notion of awarding him this most special byway in the United States,” Dabakis said.

Gov. Gary Herbert also said he isn’t a proponent of changing the name of the highway.

“It’s a little premature it seems like to me,” Herbert said Tuesday in a meeting with reporters. “We like to reward people for doing things that we think are important and proper, but typically, at least in Utah, we wait until people have left office and reward them for the work they’ve done.”

A map shows the route and travel time of the current Utah National Parks Highway, which would become the “Donald J. Trump Utah National Parks Highway” if legislation sponsored by Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, passes | Map courtesy of Google Maps, St. George News (Click on photo to enlarge)

Roads and buildings in Utah are usually named after people who are no longer in office or have died, Herbert said, mentioning Bangerter Highway, James V. Hansen Highway and Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City, as examples. If the bill lands on his desk, Herbert said he would have to hear the arguments for and against it before making the decision on whether or not to veto it.

“We’ll make that that decision if and when that happens,” Herbert said.

The “Donald J. Trump Utah National Parks Highway” would follow a route that includes several roads that travel around and through Zion, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, Arches and Canyonlands national parks. It includes parts of Interstate 15, U.S. 191, U.S. 89 and state Route 191, and travels through Kanab, La Verkin, Cedar City and Moab.

The bill would also cost taxpayers $124,000 for signs that would declare the name of the highway along the roads.

Naming a highway after a sitting president has precedent; in 2015, a highway in Florida was renamed to “President Barack Obama Highway.” Also, in New York, lawmakers have considered renaming a state park for Trump on land he donated after plans for a golf course fell through.

Related Stories

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

About the Author

Spencer Ricks is a Seattle native who graduated from Dixie State University in 2017. He is the former Editor-in-Chief of the Dixie Sun News – DSU's student newspaper. He has also written for KSL.com and Seattle Met Magazine, covering everything from local politics to flash floods. Spencer joined the St. George News team as a reporter in January 2018.

Mike Noel is an idiot that will not be reelected,
the moron is living in denial.
midterm elections will be the real indicator.
If Noel wants to rename the road after trump, he should
call it the wishy washy road to nowhere,
the piece of crap dungle trump has five deferments from going to Viet Nam.
what a piece of dung

Wondering? Maybe the town of Virgin should be renamed “Zion National Park Golfcourse and Country Club”, Not! Another failed plan to build an 18 hole golf course surrounded by multi-million $ homes courtesy of the “Trump Cares about our Parks Foundation”!

Why name a rd after trump? I don,t think he has ever been to a national park , unless on govt business.. I don’t think h is worthy of this designation .. there are a,out of other people to give this title too.. I won,t be driving on it for sure..

So you’ve traveled to your last UT National Park? It’s not as though there are many paved alternate routes. The Governor states that he’s not in favor of the change. I wouldn’t worry about it. Every year, the Legislature throws tons of ‘stuff’ against the wall to see what sticks.

I’m not going to address the politics of this idiocy. I’m just saying that this is a total waste of taxpayer money. Of course all governments are very good at this, so why should Utah be any different?
Pray for this session to end before the idiots can do any more harm to Utah than they already have.

Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, you call reducing national lands caring for them? You’re daffier than most politicians. Here’s a thought. If you want to honor a president consider honoring Theodore Roosevelt. I’m sure he’s rolling over in his grave over President Trump’s greed-filled decision and your “steal from future generations” mindset.

I lost a little respect for the governer the other day when he asked people to pray for rain. Gimme a break. Prayers don’t bring rain. It’s gonna rain eventually but of course when it does people are like oh it’s cause we prayed blah blah blah. My point is the governer redeemed himself when speaking about Noel’s proposal he stated ‘’something like this does not happen before the person is out of office or until they are dead.’’ Thank you governer. Please don’t allow this. He deserves to have NOTHING honorable named after him. There is enough of his real estate around the world named after him. Vain man.

I’ll wager your quaint little whine destroyed the govenor’s day and caused PRESIDENT Trump to tremble with fear. You are the dingle berry, the cow flop, the horse biscuit in the swimming pool of humanity. But then, articles like yours are bound to release the adhesive that holds the liberal socialists together. They whine and moan and gnash their dentures and anticipate a vote of approval from all the other little snowflakes. Reminds us on the other side of the political egg of the days of the hippy movement of generations past.

Jumping the gun. Usually these sorts of things occur once the person has proven themselves in some public cause. This is not a pro or anti Trump stance….but a request to wait until he has earned the right to have such a majestic highway after himself. In addition, this is being proposed by the same government who cries and whines about lack of funds each year in the name of needing new taxes?

I had to look at the calendar to make sure it wasn’t April 1st! Are you kidding me? You want to name roads that traverse and connect our precious national parks in honor of someone who is the complete antithesis to preservation of the natural environment and is only interested in exploiting anything and anyone for his own personal gains? When will this nightmare end? I am afraid not soon enough…

It’s like we are living in some kind of nasty alternate reality these days. Name the highway connecting national parks after the POTUS who wants to open up parks and monuments to drilling and mining? That is insane and a very ugly slap in the face to all people who love our public lands for their beauty, wildlife and plants. The idea of putting that nasty, degenerated, plundering pervert’s name anywhere offends me. We need to get rid of the old corrupt Utah politicians and replace them with people of integrity. Blue tsunami!!!